Ruth Glacier
| Ruth Glacier | ||
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 Ruth Glacier |
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| location | Alaska ( USA ) | |
| Mountains | Alaska chain | |
| Type | Valley glacier | |
| length | 50 km | |
| Exposure | South southeast | |
| Altitude range | 2000 m - 300 m | |
| width | ⌀ 3.8 km | |
| Coordinates | 62 ° 47 ′ N , 150 ° 39 ′ W | |
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| drainage | Ruth River → Tokositna River → Chulitna River → Susitna River | |
 The "Great Gorge" |
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The Ruth Glacier is a glacier in the Alaska Range in Alaska . The glacier was named in 1903 by Frederick Cook , an American explorer, polar explorer and doctor, after his daughter.
geography
The Ruth Glacier is 50 km long and is located in Denali National Park .
The Great Gorge , a two-kilometer-wide gorge in which the glacier begins less than five kilometers from the summit of Denali , overcomes a 16-kilometer difference in altitude of 600 m. The snow on the south-eastern mountain flank is pressed through this gorge and migrates downhill at a speed of one meter per day.
At the edges of the gorge, up to 1500 m high granite rock walls rise above the ice mass. Studies by the University of Alaska in 1983 showed an ice thickness of up to 1150 m, which together with the adjacent rock walls forms a deeper abyss than can be found in the Grand Canyon . The difference in altitude between Mount Dickey on the edge of the glacier and the valley floor under the ice is over 2,400 m.
Above the Great Gorge is the Ruth Amphitheater , a basin that is fed by the tribute glaciers West Fork Ruth Glacier , Northwest Fork Ruth Glacier and North Fork Ruth Glacier .
The Ruth Glacier is drained via the 11 km long Ruth River , a left tributary of the Tokositna River .
Web links
- National Park Service: Ruth Glacier (official site; English)
- Ruth Glacier in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System